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Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

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Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#361

Post by FabHK »

cdicelico wrote: post #78

My top 3, in order of how I try to apply them (i.e., if 1 doesn't help, move on to 2, etc.). I learned these all from reading various philosophy works, by the way, so perhaps cognitive hack #1 should be "read books". 1) Suspension of judgement (from Sextus Empiricus, Zhuang Zi, Ecclesiastes): avoid forming an opinion at all about things that are not evident. The way I do this is by thinking through an opposing argume…

Another useful one coming right out of the Stoic tradition is the trisection into things that one

1) has no control over, such as weather, other people's actions, etc.: do not fret about those.

2) has complete control over, such as one's thoughts, judgements, response to events, actions, etc.: concentrate on these.

3) has partial control over, such as one's health, reputation, etc.: do not fret about the outcome, but prepare/do your part as best as you can.

This is well explained in William Irvine's Guide to the Good Life [0], but has already been proposed by Epictetus in the Enchiridion [1], 2nd century CE:

> Work, therefore to be able to say to every harsh appearance, “You are but an appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be.” And then examine it by those rules which you have, and first, and chiefly, by this: whether it concerns the things which are in our own control, or those which are not; and, if it concerns anything not in our control, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.

[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5617966-a-guide-to-the-g...

[1] https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/epictetus/the-enchiridion/...

(Note that standardebooks is pretty cool, a non-profit offering carefully formatted, open source, and free public domain ebooks!)

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#362

Post by noobiemcfoob »

If I'm feeling stressed or at all emotional, I mentally list how solid my sources of shelter, food and love. No matter how bad the meeting or argument or whatever, if I have (and will continue to have) a roof, a future meal, love (from pets or people), then whatever stress I'm feeling can't be all that bad.

/Doesn't work on legitimate existential threats

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#363

Post by cdicelico »

cm11 wrote: post #212
cdicelico wrote: post #78

My top 3, in order of how I try to apply them (i.e., if 1 doesn't help, move on to 2, etc.). I learned these all from reading various philosophy works, by the way, so perhaps cognitive hack #1 should be "read books". 1) Suspension of judgement (from Sextus Empiricus, Zhuang Zi, Ecclesiastes): avoid forming an opinion at all about things that are not evident. The way I do this is by thinking through an opposing argume…

These are forms of adjusting for bias and one should be cautious when they (or anyone) think they're good at accounting for them. That said, there are times we do feel justified in our decision because we feel we have adequately looked at "all sides." At times the process of taking a neutral approach and/or vocalizing that neutrality demonstrates weakness. "Plan X makes sense because of A and B, but it does have this…

These techniques are more general psychological tools than specifically about controlling bias. They're also meant to be internally-facing, not necessarily for sharing outside yourself. In the context of the original question about "brain hacks" (not necessarily group dynamics) the underlying thread is finding ways to change your perspective in order to gain insight, which is a very useful "brain hack" indeed!

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#364

Post by cdicelico »

wordpressdev wrote: post #98
cdicelico wrote: post #78

My top 3, in order of how I try to apply them (i.e., if 1 doesn't help, move on to 2, etc.). I learned these all from reading various philosophy works, by the way, so perhaps cognitive hack #1 should be "read books". 1) Suspension of judgement (from Sextus Empiricus, Zhuang Zi, Ecclesiastes): avoid forming an opinion at all about things that are not evident. The way I do this is by thinking through an opposing argume…

Do you blog? It would be great, and beneficial for most of us, to read more about your thoughts and reflections :)

Thank you, but I do not blog regularly. It's an interesting idea, though, and I appreciate the sentiment. However, none of these are my thoughts, and all of them are easily discovered in the same places I found them myself! :)

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#365

Post by cdicelico »

mlthoughts2018 wrote: post #90
cdicelico wrote: post #78

My top 3, in order of how I try to apply them (i.e., if 1 doesn't help, move on to 2, etc.). I learned these all from reading various philosophy works, by the way, so perhaps cognitive hack #1 should be "read books". 1) Suspension of judgement (from Sextus Empiricus, Zhuang Zi, Ecclesiastes): avoid forming an opinion at all about things that are not evident. The way I do this is by thinking through an opposing argume…

I like this advice a lot, but the references and the formalized taxonomic names are a severe hindrance. Do you know any description of these ideas that uses more colloquial, modern terms for the taxonomy?

This also tripped me up for a long time. The issue (at least for me) is that modern English is poorly suited to extremely nuanced thought. The best modern language we have today for philosophical discourse is possibly German, and of course Greek and Sanskrit excel at expressing nuance and subtlety. An example of this is the observation that it often takes an entire English sentence or paragraph to express the meaning and shades of meaning that are encapsulated in a single Greek or Sanskrit word.

I agree with you, though, it seems like this language issue is a roadblock to many. The same could be said of mathematics and science, and most of my own learning has revolved around breaking through the initial barrier to entry to a given subject that's in the form of its technical language and notation.

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#366

Post by cdicelico »

brobdingnagians wrote: post #114
cdicelico wrote: post #78

My top 3, in order of how I try to apply them (i.e., if 1 doesn't help, move on to 2, etc.). I learned these all from reading various philosophy works, by the way, so perhaps cognitive hack #1 should be "read books". 1) Suspension of judgement (from Sextus Empiricus, Zhuang Zi, Ecclesiastes): avoid forming an opinion at all about things that are not evident. The way I do this is by thinking through an opposing argume…

I liked this too, and given the sister comment asked for a more colloquial description, I came up with my own: 1) Instead of using firm statements attached to yourself like "I know" or "I think" use statements that are easier for you to contradict and discard without feeling like you are attacking or discarding yourself, like "it seems that..." or "it appears that...". Then you can say "it seems that X but in contras…

Well put! :)

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#367

Post by cdicelico »

mlthoughts2018 wrote: post #179
sdoering wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Initial reading * eikasia -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eikasia * pistis -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistis * dianoia -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianoia * episteme -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episteme * techne -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techne * phronesis -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudence (latin: prudence) * noesis -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nous Further reading: https://en.wiki…

Sorry I was ambiguous in my first post. I meant to ask for reading material that synthesizes these different individual topics together into a more modern taxonomy of concepts that don’t need any reliance on these existing taxonomic terms at all. I’m not seeking background reading on these concepts as they are already bundled into their own taxonomy, that’s the thing I find unhelpful and am seeking to avoid in favor…

I'm not aware of any, but I have thought quite a lot about creating a course on this subject. The key issue for me is that modern academic philosophy is perhaps more properly "philosophology", or the study of philosophy. It would be interesting to study and share more practical applications of philosophy, the way the great ancient philosophers perceived philosophy themselves (see John Sellars' The Art of Living for an in-depth analysis of the Greeks' perception of philosophy as a "techne ton bion", or perhaps "lifecraft").

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#368

Post by cdicelico »

crawfordcomeaux wrote: post #178
cdicelico wrote: post #78

My top 3, in order of how I try to apply them (i.e., if 1 doesn't help, move on to 2, etc.). I learned these all from reading various philosophy works, by the way, so perhaps cognitive hack #1 should be "read books". 1) Suspension of judgement (from Sextus Empiricus, Zhuang Zi, Ecclesiastes): avoid forming an opinion at all about things that are not evident. The way I do this is by thinking through an opposing argume…

I'd say another common theme in these is language hacking (I'm assuming the different thinking modes come with their own language constructs). And that's the big thing that's changed my life around. Specifically, how I pulled off the first two was with a practice I'd do when I'd hear a word with an antonym. I'd shrug and say "meh... ... ...meh." I came up with this practice because I wanted to learn to suspend/minimi…

Wonderful collection of techniques! :)

Re: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

#369

Post by crawfordcomeaux »

cdicelico wrote: post #368
crawfordcomeaux wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say another common theme in these is language hacking (I'm assuming the different thinking modes come with their own language constructs). And that's the big thing that's changed my life around. Specifically, how I pulled off the first two was with a practice I'd do when I'd hear a word with an antonym. I'd shrug and say "meh... ... ...meh." I came up with this practice because I wanted to learn to suspend/minimi…

Wonderful collection of techniques! :)

Yours, too! Can we be friends?
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